Man sent to jail for sticking up taxi driver in Park City

He had a BB gun when he was found hiding behind Dumpster

A man who admitted robbing a taxi driver in Park City late in 2012 was ordered to serve one year in jail on Monday.

Austen Urry, who is 20 years old and from Midway, was given credit for the 92 days he had already served. Judge Todd Shaughnessy also ordered him to complete 150 hours of community service and placed Urry on probation for 36 months.

Urry earlier pleaded guilty to a second-degree felony count of robbery. The count had been reduced from the first-degree felony prosecutors initially filed against Urry. A second-degree felony is punishable by a prison sentence of between one and 15 years and a $10,000 fine. The judge imposed a prison sentence of between one and 15 years, but he suspended the prison time in favor of the one year in jail.

The guilty plea to the less serious charge, entered on Feb. 4, was part of a plea bargain with prosecutors.

The robbery was a rare stickup in Park City. In a charging document filed in Third District Court in December, prosecutors said the taxi driver picked up Urry as a passenger. He asked the driver to take him to the parking lot of the Wells Fargo branch on Kearns Boulevard.

The charging document claimed that Urry took a handgun out of a pocket when the taxi reached the bank. Urry told the driver to hand over his wallet, using a profanity while doing so, and threatened to shoot the driver if he did not, according to the charging document. The driver quickly got out of the cab, fled and contacted the police, the prosecutors said.

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Police officers found footprints in the snow and followed them to a nearby apartment complex. Urry was behind a Dumpster hiding when he was found. An officer captured Urry at gunpoint.

He had a BB gun with him when he was captured, the prosecutors said. An orange cap meant to show the weapon was not an actual handgun had been removed, according to the charging document.

The taxi driver identified Urry as the suspect.

Paul Quinlan, the court-appointed attorney who represented Urry, said he had Urry write an apology letter to the cab driver. The apology was not part of the sentence.

"At first he was reluctant to accept responsibility, but after speaking with him at some length and going over the reports, he eventually admitted what he had done," Quinlan said.

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